Last Updated: November 14, 2024

Meet & Greets are introductions to the lives and work of our remarkable community members. The individuals featured in these stories are volunteers, activists, and contributors – it is their passion that drives DanceSafe, and their dedication that sustains it. 

Meet Mohawk (they/them). 

Mohawk’s Story 

My name is Mohawk Greene. I became active in the rave scene in 2005 as a breakdancer. I attended my first rave when I was 17 with The Crystal Method headlining. As I got older I started being exposed to and engaging in more and more substance use over time, and noticing that things that I ingested didn’t always have the expected effects due to adulteration or misrepresentation. I became interested in the concept of harm reduction from doing some of my own research and having gotten some self-care tips from my raver friend’s [then pre-med] doctor roommate. I wanted to be able to share this type of knowledge on a broader scale.

Mohawk and DanceSafe 

I [re]launched the NY DanceSafe chapter in fall of 2013, and since it had been very difficult to get event organizers to agree to allowing harm reduction in the spaces before (as a non-DanceSafe initiative), we hosted 2 events that were all ages and free, in order to show the community that we could have harm reduction in legal NYC venues and do so without issues or law enforcement interference. The events were called “Parachute NY: Supporting the Creative Community” and we had a 6 hour lineup of local DJs, vendors, land community members that hosted various workshops that were designed for any age.

We’ve since hosted 3 other events, 1 of which was a fundraiser to file for our 501(c)(3) status and the last 2 of which were community outreach events targeted to LGBTQ and POC, with a balanced representation of race, genders, and sexualities in performers and participants and organizations that support their well-being.

Big Dreams 

I would say that I have goals to balance activism, work/survival, and recreation/self care a lot better. I’m always on the brink of complete burnout. It gets more challenging the more I radicalize in my politics.

Sage Advice 

Know and understand your rights. Travel as often as possible. Write off things on your taxes.